Training Log Archive: Tundra/Desert

The 11-hr trip from Greg's apartment to work on MTA, NW, and VTA was so smooth, it never happens like that. No rude counter agents, the subway showed up on time, the planes took off as scheduled and travelled through minimum bumps... perfect. I slept and drew Sunday's routes.

I ran with/behind Clem to the start. Had to hurry; barely made it, had been sitting in the car drawing routes. But, I forgot to turn on the HRM, so no time for this one. The rule for Season 2006 is, if it's not in Precision Performance, it wasn't training.

Day 2 of the NEOC event. Started quickly and confidently, but had three micro-bobbles on the first loop—one cliff off, or one boulder off... stop, turn, punch. On the second loop, made another mistake when Sergiy Gnatiouk passed me. I sped up, lost map contact, then regained it but in a parallel situation.

As I got through Control 18, I got hypoglycemic. Unfortunately, I hadn't planned on carrying a Gu or two, and I needed them. I mostly walked the leg up to #19, but it kept getting worse. On the simple leg to #21, I started seeing white and dark spots. On the next one, 450 m on a paved road/grass, I lost a minute and a half to Greg B. But, I managed to pull myself together and finish the remaining easy legs at a decent pace without a complete loss of consciousness. Wasn't really tired; just, ran out of fuel.

The map and course were excellent. The map was a real pleasure to utilize, and the course was a good Classic/Long, without the extra fuss—use only what you need, but if you need more stuff from the map, it's there, in just the right places. The only disappointment was the laser printing, with invisible contours in the green.

I was very satisfied with my weekend's runs. I was just behind the big dogs, within easy reach, and this reach should happen with more training and, most importantly, if I remain healthy. A tick crawled away from me last night on a dinner table...

Climb is from the Polar, and the length is from OCAD.

Blue 2 - Splits

Event: NEOC Spring Rock Festival and Intercollegiates
 

The first, "short" day of the NEOC Spring Rock Festival. I ran the whole course with no company. Felt fine. Navigated OK.

The map was somewhat of a challenge; one of those not-so-great pieces that nevertheless have a structure to them, so that after a while, one can adapt to the style with some success. The contours were, in a word, weak, and as PG noted, the vegetation mapping indicated more the color of the foliage than the runnability. I identified very few point features—they were mapped remarkably well, but it was time-consuming and unnecessary to work with them; my best friends were stone walls. There were noticeable distortions, so that, for example, my straight route from #12 to #13, when drawn, came out curvy.

The course was sort of OK. It was planned to be slow and to demand constant concentration. I guess it is a fair challenge, just not a commonly desired one. Control placement was obvious, thank *. If it wasn't, this could have been another FLL-type experience for all.

Climb is straight from the Polar, no adjustments; length from an OCAD trace.

Blue 1 - Splits

Passed up on a planned morning run from work to SJC, with pack—the pack was too heavy. Flew to BDL, where I met Mark Pittman with whom I shared a rental car. We drove to Camp Woodstock, accommodations for the A event of the weekend.

I finally got out for a run around 10 pm, on the roads we drove to the camp. Some stragglers were still coming to check in... "ghost of a lost orienteer" is how Bernie described the sighting of me. I beat his car into the camp on my return run... route choice.

Climb is USGS; Polar said 165 m.

Got to work very late today, and stayed overnight. The reason I was late was that someone chose Caltrain over the bridge. As I got off in Mountain View, the biohazard squad was still scrubbing off the guy's parts from nooks in the platform spread over an area well over 100 m away from the initial impact.

Warmed up at De Anza, with Mikkel. Mark Prior and later, Tapio, also showed up. The fast dude from last week was there as well, but did not join us.

I forgot all clothes, so Mikkel loaned me his warm-up pants.

Mark and I did 3×(1207 m at I + 202 m rest). Mikkel and Tapio did 4×. Mark and I were about the same speed: 4:21 4:16 4:15. Mikkel averaged 4:27, and Tapio, 4:52.

From home to Kezar Stadium, warming up for an interval session. On Fell, through the Panhandle, then on Stanyan. It stopped raining for the evening.

With Mark Prior, did 10×(200 m at R + 200 m rest). Mark moved at 32"–34"; I did
36.6 34.3 34.9 35.0 36.1
36.5 35.4 37.0 36.6 36.4.

There were not too many people at Kezar, and most were young and female. Mark seemed happy.

A finishing Luchik T, with Mark.

A cooldown jog home, this time mostly on Page St.